Business Building Blurb

I have a few minutes before I take an exam for my Consumer Behavior class. I have been studying or been in class all day and I'm not really liking it. I guess it's a good day for it though. It's a dreary day out. 

I always study in the same place in the business building, 

and this young lady was sitting across from me on the opposite sofa.

As you can see, I tried to take the picture without her knowing.  She didn't notice! I would have died.

Anyways, it was just funny to me that someone would do that. She was all sprawled out on the sofa like she was at home. People came and sat next to her and she never moved. It must be a college thing. I don't think I'll ever see that in a real business building. 

Aside from that, I've been studying some interesting things about consumer behavior. Would you like to hear about it? 

Well, here it is. We are taught to be committed and consistent. This is not by any means a bad thing as a whole. It is good to be committed and consistent! It makes it easier for us to make decisions because we don't have to start from scratch every time. We know we can count on committed people. There are many other reasons for this value.

 But, marketers can use this against us because they know we will try to be committed to things without even really thinking about it. An example of this can be when a deal is advertised a lot, and you go to the store to get the deal, but the sale is over or they are out of stock. Many times, since you drove all the way to the store, you may go ahead and buy a similar product that is not on sale because you are already committed (to yourself) to get the product.

Also, say you sign a petition for a cause... Say for instance that it is a petition against using the word "retarded." Before you sign the petition, you really didn't think about the word being bad, and you held no stance on the topic. After signing the petition, you are more likely to be committed to not saying the word, and you might even call people your close family or friends out for saying the word. Petitions are a great way to get people on your side who wouldn't have been concerned with the issue otherwise. 

Well that's all for now. I'm off to take my test. Wish me luck.

Real quick, I just saw a guy riding one of these INSIDE the business building.

Maybe I'm actually in middle school.